A little bud, with dreams in her eyes, who longed to fly, who wanted to blossom and spread her fragrance across the entire garden. But, before she could even bloom, she was plucked. This is the fate of thousands of buds, yet it seems to make no difference to the world.
There are so many buds that yearn to bloom, but they wither away before they ever get the chance—all because of ‘compulsions’ (majboori). Why is it that these compulsions always fall into the share of these buds? Will anyone ever stop to think about this? I know many here will claim that this doesn’t happen, but the truth is, this is the reality for most.
Because of these compulsions, these buds lose so much—their books, their dreams, and even their own identity. Yet, no one ever tries to understand the depth of this loss. People simply do not care; they are too busy clinging to their own narrow-mindedness and their own opinions.
A girl, trapped in these compulsions, is forced to abandon her education, her dreams, and her very identity. And yet, she keeps smiling. Because this society doesn’t even grant her the right to cry. They fear that if she cries, the false facade they have constructed might break and shatter—even if it means the lives of one or thousands of girls are being destroyed in the process.
There are thousands of such examples in society that have shattered the lives of countless buds. Perhaps, in this day and age, you could find a ‘broken bud’ in almost every household.
I am not speaking of someone else; I am speaking from my own experience. I have been living this for the last ten years. But now, when I finally understood and raised my voice against it, my own people—those for whom I sacrificed my childhood and my dreams—started pointing fingers at my character. They, who always told me to “understand the situation,” now refuse to even speak to me.
This is not just my story; it is the reality of many buds who endure this. And when, after all this, they finally stand up for their own dreams with a flicker of hope, their character is used as a weapon to attack them.
But no one realizes that if a girl can endure everything in the face of compulsion, imagine the immense strength she must have gathered to fight both that compulsion and the fear hidden behind it.
Watching her dreams crumble and her life shatter every single day, she has forged herself into something unbreakable. Now, she will neither bow down to any compulsion nor be stopped by the character assassinations aimed at silencing her.
This is where the bud finds the strength to fight. One day, she will leave all these compulsions behind, bloom with strength, and fragrance the air. Then, no one will be able to pluck her or force her to wither. Because now, she is strong—strong enough that she will not bloom alone; she will bloom by taking others like her along.
After all, this same society says that while it may be easy to make one person bow, making a collective group bow is not just difficult, it is impossible. And eventually, the society bows before them.
If you like this piece, and if you feel that you, too, want to bloom with me, please do share your thoughts in the comments. I truly want to see how many buds are with me, and how many families are out there who truly want their buds to bloom and spread a fragrance so potent that it changes society itself.